New music: Blur returns after a seven-year absence with 'Fool's Day'

Blur comes out of hiding with "Fool's Day."
I have a large conflict of interest that forbids me from using my blog to discuss the importance of this past weekend's third-annual Record Store Day celebration -- I work at one part-time. That having been disclosed, the event -- wherein stores across the country hosted parties and sales -- was pretty much the greatest thing since somebody decided bread should come in slices.
Hundreds of artists put out limited-edition releases for the occasion that were distributed seemingly at random among the participating stores. Most disappeared, bound for eBay, within minutes of the day's kickoff. One of the hotter commodities was a seven-inch single from Blur, British heavyweights out of whom little more than a peep has been heard in seven years.

The song, "Fool's Day," is effortlessly good in the same way singer Damon Albarn's records with Gorillaz have been, and certainly feels influenced by his work with that group. Blur-wise, it sounds kind of like a bridge between the band's heyday-of-Britpop mid-'90s output and its increasingly abstract later albums such as "13" and "Think Tank." Take a listen: